Day 25 – December 8, 2009 (Tue): Drive Followers to Subscribe

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 148 Followers: 122 Listed: 7

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 24 – December 7, 2009 (Mon): Drive Followers to a Blog

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Subscribe to what? That is the question. Heck, I just checked and I don’t even have an RSS feed up on my blog yet. Here’s what I’m discovering during my 30-days jaunt with Joel Comm and his plan to dominate Twitter. There’s nothing to dominate if you don’t have a purpose. Said another way, domination means nothing if you have no product? What’s my product? Now that’s a very deep question. Here’s a very deep answer:

Me.

I want people to read my writing. That’s me.

But people can’t read what’s not there. It’s not like I’ve written nothing. Over the decades I’ve written plenty (and not the kind of slop you’re reading right now). Some of what I’ve written has won awards. Some has been controversial. Some has made people laugh. Some has motivated people to act. It already exists.

But not here. Not on the web. That’s where it must be.

So then the question becomes: Why undertake a plan to dominate before you have all your ducks in a row? I have a story, several of them in fact. They’re not all complete but a few are done (at least the first draft). Why not post those to ChrisCarosa.com and use Twitter (or LinkedIn for that matter) as a method to drive people to read these fountains of creativity and thought?

I had lunch with @mikefixs today. He asked a point blank question: What’s your objective? I listed my objectives for each piece of the puzzle, but I stammered when it came to the overall picture. Here’s why: While I generally don’t shy away from big hairy audacious goals (remember “To Boldy Go” my working title for the AstronomyTop100.com IYA2009 outreach project?), they usually involve promoting some other individual or organization. Here’s my problem, I am (perhaps to a fault) queasy about self-promotion.

You might call this weird for a guy who ran two successful political campaigns and who regularly appears in the media. In these cases, I feel I have placed (and am placing) myself in the position of giving, not receiving, so I had (and continue to have) no problem in such environments. For some reason, though, I sense the reader does me a favor by reading my works. Is that odd? I know people appreciate and get pleasure from my writing – they’ve told me so – but, it’s just one of those things I can’t really believe.

And so here’s the rub: As a writer, an author or a speaker, I am my product. But the fruits of my artistic endeavors please me so much, they must be sinful. (That’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to think when you’re a Catholic.) And sins are bad, right?

So I will write. And I will silently post the new and the old. And my writings will likely seep into some public arena. And people will enjoy them – or not (it doesn’t matter to me, except for the part about the people who actually enjoy them). And maybe, just maybe, one slab of text will take hold of a shooting star…

Nah! Who am I kidding? Everything works according to a plan, and without a plan, nothing works. Unless you win the lottery. And that’s not a plan. That’s desperation.

And speaking of plans, it’s now clear my plan to follow a bunch of people on a Sunday night has not worked. And speaking of desperation, I think I might send @CoachJudy an @message. She still hasn’t followed back. Am I a stooge?

How many followers do you think I’ll have after 30 days? Click here to enter your guess on my Survey Monkey survey “Chris Carosa’s 30-Day Plan to Dominate Twitter Experiment.” There’s no prize, but the fan who guesses the closest correct number the earliest will “win” and I’ll mention you if you want me to.

Find out today’s results on Day 26 – December 9, 2009 (Wed): Drive Followers to Purchase Without a Special Offer

Comments

  1. Chris: You do indeed have an RSS feed. There are links to it in the top nav bar and in the box to the right.

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